Electric railway



(Ne Model.)

B. F. GOMSTOOK.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

No, 515,654. 4 Patented Feb. 27, 1894.

WITNESSES. INVENTOH I 4d P I 17' m: nnwm. muoemwnmu COMPANY.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. COMSTOOK, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 515,654, datedFebruary 27, 1894.

Application filed April 13, 1893.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. CoMsTooK, of Decatur, in the county ofMacon and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Electric Railways, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming a part thereof, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan view of a railway constructed according to myimprovement. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section taken on line 2-2in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the trolleys. Fig. 4 isan enlarged detail view of the turn-table by which the trolley iscarried. Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of two trolleys passing eachother; and Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

The object of my invention is to construct a double track electricrailway, in which the cars on both tracks will be enabled to takecurrent from a single trolley wire, and in which the trolleys of twopassing cars may pass each other without injury.

My invention consists in the combination, with a double track railwayand cars running thereon, of a trolley wire common to both railways, andtrolleys attached to the cars and capable of running on the wire and ofpassing each other as the cars pass, all as will be hereinafter fullydescribed.

The tracks A, A, are of the usual construction, and are grounded in theordinary way. The cars B, B, running on the said tracks are alsoconstructed in the usual way and provided with motors connected withtheir axles. To the top of each car is secured an annular frame 0,provided with a channeled rim a, to which is fitted the circle D whichcarries the rod E, extending diametrically across the circle. On thesaid rod is placed a T-head F. In the said head, at right angles to therod E, is inserted an arm G, which is angled and bored at its free endto receive the rod 1). To the arm G are attached braces c, which arepivoted to the circle D, at diametrically opposite points and oppositethe axis of the rod E. The circle D is perforated, and to the frame 0 isattached a spring-pressed sition of use.

Serial No. 470,216. (No model.)

bolt 01., which looks the circle D in either of the two positions inwhich it may be placed. On the rod E are placed spiral springs 0 whichare attached to the T-head F, and also to the circle D, and are placedunder torsion so as to lift the arm G and hold it in the po- The arm Gat its free end is provided with a cap 6, which fits the rod 1) andallows it to slide freely into or out of the end of the arm G. The rod bis supplied with a collar f, between which and the cap 6 is placed aspiral spring g. The outer end of the rod 19 is forked and attached tothe edge of a metallic plate h, the said plate being provided withrollers a, one at either end, having flanges or wheels j at oppositeends of the rollers. The ends of the plate h are tapered or pointed asshown in Figs. 5 and 6 so as to permit a pair of trolleys moving inopposite directions to pass each other, the points of the plates beingso small as to be free from liability of catching.

In. the normal working of the trolley the spring 9 holds the plate 72.and rollers 71 in a median position. The trolley arm G is held in anelevated position by the torsional springs c, c. When two trolleys meet,the rollers of one trolley engage the plate 72. of the other trolley,and force it downward so that instead of riding on the wire H, it ridesover the plate 71 of the other trolley, as shown in Fig. 3, and when onetrolley passes the other in the manner described, it replaces itselfautomatically on the wire.

By means of my improvement I greatly economize in the construction oftrolley railways, by dispensing with one wire, while at the same timethe trolley itself is not rendered more complicated than those of theordinary type.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters 'Patent- 1. In a trolley railway, the combination, with adouble track and the electric cars adapted to run thereon, of a singletrolley wire, and trolleys provided with rollers and pointed platescarried by the cars and adapted to run upon and pass each other on thesingle trolley wire, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the trolley arm G provided with the yieldingrod b, of the plate it having pointed ends and provided with rollers 13,having wheels or flanges at the ends of 5 ,the rollers, substantially asspecified.

3. In an electric car, the combination of a circular frame C secured tothe car roof, the circle D arranged to turn in the frame and providedwith a transverse rod E, the trolley arm G provided with a T-headfitted'loosely :0 to the transverse rod, and torsional springs adaptedto hold the trolley arm in the posi tion of use, substantially asspecified.

BENJAMIN F. OOMSTOOK.

Witnesses: I

(J. 0. LE FORGEE, ARTHUR F. EVANS.

